1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns the filling of containers with particulate matter and, more particularly, the continuous metering of predetermined amounts of soil into moving pots.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One or more of the commonly applied criteria for effective machine dirt filling operations, such as speed, efficiency, low maintenance and low capital investment, have been missing in prior art automatic dirt filling machines. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,012,370 describes a sequentially operating stop-and-go plant potting apparatus which attempts to accomplish numerous potting operations simultaneously. While one pot is being filled with dirt, another is being seeded and another is being watered. Of course, providing mechanisms for filling individual pots is clearly inefficient and costly and could result in much waste. For example, a seed may be added or water sprinkled into a pot that may not have been initially filled with soil. Further, the equipment and maintenance costs to pot individual containers, even at a rapid speed, would be prohibitive under today's standards.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,337,986 defines a more compact pot filling system operating by rotation of a turret mechanism. In this way, multiple pots can be filled simultaneously and much less extensive mechanisms are required. The primary disadvantage, however, still resides in slowness of operation and lack of production capacity. Only four pots may be filled at one time per rotation of the turret. Although other operations occur simultaneously, this is still highly inefficient and does not allow for the filling of planters or other voluminous containers.